Use the Five Minute Snowball to Find Motivation to Clean
I’m always looking for new ways to motivate myself to do things I don’t want to do. Sometimes I try to trick myself and just get up and throw myself into a task for a few minutes to finish it – and it works! I find myself immersed in my work, getting carried away and doing more than I intended. But I didn’t have a name for it. Then I saw a blog post on Everyday Organizer that gave this practice a name: “The Five Minute Snowball.” If you have trouble getting yourself to do tedious tasks, especially cleaning and organizing, I encourage you to give it a try.
What is a five-minute snowball?
It’s a simple variation on other time management and motivation techniques: You might start a timer or just glance at your phone, only to decide that you need to get to work for five minutes. That’s all you have to vow to do. It’s only five minutes. Then, when the timer goes off or you check your phone, you’ll likely realize that time has flown by.
Personally, I recommend not setting a timer at all. Strict time limits may seem harsh, and if you’re already stressed, it may not help you. I find that if I just show up to work, I’m always amazed at how much time has actually passed when I check the time again, so a timer telling me my five minutes is up won’t be too helpful. .
The goal here is to set yourself a manageable time goal. Five minutes isn’t really that bad, but you’ll probably find yourself over it because it’s such a short amount of time, especially once you get into a rhythm. However, it is not demoralizing if you don’t; you set out to spend just five minutes, and as long as you achieve that goal, you’ve accomplished what you set out to do.
Why does it work
I like this less structured approach compared to, say, the Pomodoro method , which requires you to work in longer, more defined chunks with little breaks in between. The good thing about starting a five-minute snowball is that it’s completely manageable and doable, so instead of feeling bad if you don’t work for 15 or 20 minutes straight, you feel satisfied when you achieve your goal. Setting achievable goals is important, especially when you’re working on a task you don’t enjoy, because you need to prioritize positive feelings and avoid negative ones that might hold you back from moving forward.
The general lack of structure here is great because you won’t be counting down the minutes as you work. You know it’s a short period of time and it will go by quickly, so you can focus on the task rather than the time. Overall, when you act this way, you spend less time thinking about what you need to do (or justifying why you can’t or won’t do it) and get straight to action , which is much more fun.
Cleaning Techniques That Can Work as a Five-Minute Snowball
A little structure isn’t all that bad, though, so try incorporating a decluttering or cleaning method into your snowball project. There are many of them , but they work well in small portions:
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You can use the ski slope method or practice arranging small areas of the room in random patterns in five-minute intervals, dedicating each snowball to one small area.
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The 12-12-12 method involves finding 12 items each day to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to put away. You can break this up into three unique five-minute fights to make it less overwhelming.
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With the Decluttering at the Speed of Life method , you follow five steps—starting with throwing out trash and ending with organizing everything you own—but you don’t have to do it all at once, but instead can work through the steps sequentially using the snowflake technique. coma.